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2�s COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PR06RAM ' Community Planning (cont�nued) described the background leading to the recommendations con- cerning a Senior Citizen Center contained in the Budget. He noted that a group of sen�or citizens, representing the very large group of seniors living �n the City, urged construction ' of such a center. The City allocated funds to cover an archi- tectural study, and a committee of seniors worked with the Parks and Recreation Department recommending construction of a Center whose total cost would be about $4 million, with the first phase to cost about $2 million Mr. Fales advised that in the Budget, however, he is able to recommend a reasonable Center for under $1 mill�on through use of federal funds and provided there is federal cooperation in moving the National Guard Armory to another site. He pointed out that without federal involve- ment it would be necessary to go to a bond election which could probably be expected to be successful in view of the demand and the large number of seniors and their friends in the City, and the taxpayers would have had to pay considerably more for the �__ Center Mr. Fales observed that it has been City experience that demands are made in May at Budget t7me to lower the level of City ser- vices, but by December there are many complaints and demands for improvement of the lowered services, citing the reduced street sweeping service Mr Esposito (see above) stated he has seen a three-man City crew with a truck where he believes only one man would have been necessary. It was pointed out that the labor unions dic- � tate which ass�gnments may be performed in which employee pos�tions and the persons involved may have had different assignments Mr Fales requested that any evidence of what may appear to be malingering by City employees should be re- ported to him for either explanation of the particular situation or disciplinary action of the employees involved, if indicated Lou Byrne, 180 Oakdale, observed that if government costs are to be cut, it must be expected that it will be necessary to give up some services, however, he suggested that citizens have a right to ask for efficiency Mr Byrne described his experi- ence at the dump involving excess manpower for unloading of some State trucks Mr Byrne inquired regarding the Long Range Planning employees and employee costs, noting that there is an increase from only 3 1 to 3 2 employee years over the last fiscal year, but costs are increased from $69,425 to $94,154 Mr Fales explained that fringe benefit costs are greatly in- creased, but that with regard to the particular figures, part of the cost increase is because of higher salaried employees being assigned to certain �obs Mr Fales noted that since this is the first program budget, comparisons with last year cannot always be as precise as they will be following a few years of experience with the new budget format. MOTION Councilman Norris moved, seconded by Councilman Rhodes, , that in order to eliminate any �obs it is necessary to identify Ad,7 Mtg -3- 5/7/77 Budget